The present invention relates to fingernail and toenail tools, and more particularly to nail files and buffers having colored or decorative designs.
Many people accentuate their fingernails and toenails by filing and buffing them. The top surface of a nail is filed and polished using emery boards, and other similar tools, to produce a surface that shines or that can be decorated with color or a design.
A typical tool for filing nails includes a core or base sheet having at least one abrasive surface. The core is typically a flat, substantially rigid sheet, such as paper, wood, plastic, or foam having two sides. A layer of abrasive is adhered to one or both sides to provide the filing or buffing surfaces of the tool. For two-sided tools, the same abrasive grit is usually provided on both sides, although sometimes a finer grain may be used on one side.
Most nail filing tools have a plain appearance, typically the simple gray or tan color of the sandpaper commonly applied to the surfaces. Alternatively, a more attractive file can be created by decorating the sandpaper surface.
Attempts have been made to provide more attractive emery boards by applying dyes to the surface or subsurface of a nail file, with mixed success. For example, conventional dyes may be painted onto the finished surface of an emery board. The necessary abrasion of the file against a nail, however, tends to remove the color applied, resulting in a progressively faded and unattractive file and/or resulting in color being transferred to the nail. Alternatively, colors may be applied to an intermediate surface of the file. After dyes are painted on the intermediate surface, a finish surface including abrasive material is applied. This overlying finish surface, however, may blur or otherwise obstruct the appearance of the design applied, creating a less desirable effect. Additionally, the adhesives required between the intermediate and finish layer may discolor, detracting from the final appearance of the file.
Attempts have been made to add glitter to a nail file to improve its aesthetic appearance. Glitter added to the surface of a file, however, tends to fall off during use, and may compromise the desired abrasive quality of the file. Glitter may be added beneath the abrasive surface of the file, but generally this results in the glitter becoming dull and losing its luster, thereby resulting in a less attractive file.
Accordingly, there is a need for nail files or buffers which have more aesthetically appealing appearances and/or have a colored or decorative pattern that does not wear off during use.
The present invention is directed to aesthetically appealing tools for filing or buffing natural or artificial fingernails or toenails and to methods of manufacturing such tools. The invention combines a file/buffer with a durable, decorative design, to provide an effective tool which is more attractive to consumers than conventional tools. The present invention also includes materials novel to nail files which further augment the attractiveness of the finished tool.
Broadly, the tool of the present invention has three general layers which are fused together, namely a core layer, a layer of abrasive material, and a colored or decorative layer.
The core layer comprises a substantially rigid substrate, simultaneously providing structural support and flexibility for the tool. The core layer may have a single layer of material such as paper, wood, or plastic. Preferably, the core layer comprises a composite structure, including a substantially rigid core of the materials just described together with one or more layers of a substantially resilient material, such as rubber, gel or foam.
Adhered to the core layer is a layer or sheet of abrasive material which creates a hiatused surface on the outer surface of the tool. The layer of abrasive material typically comprises a base coat, abrasive material, and a sizing coat. The base coat usually constitutes a binding material such as epoxy. Abrasive grit is substantially fused to the base coat, to provide a rough filing surface. Any known abrasive having desired grain sizes is applied, such as powdered glass, flint, garnet or aluminum oxide. A sizing coat is applied, preferably a thin coat of material substantially similar to the base coat. This coating further holds the abrasive grains in place while not significantly diminishing the abrasiveness of the finished surface.
Finally, a colored or decorative layer provides an aesthetic appearance of the tool and can take several forms. The layer involves any material for creating a colored or decorative pattern, such as dyes or paints, or decorative sheets of material, such as paper or fabric. When colored dyes are used, they are preferably applied to the hiatused surface of the tool by sublimation, a process which will be discussed in greater detail below. Alternatively, paper or similar sheet material having a colored or decorative pattern on its top surface are applied between the core layer and the layer of abrasive material. Preferably, this requires the layer or sheet of abrasive material to be substantially transparent to allow the pattern to show through. Furthermore, the decorative layer may be eliminated completely if the materials selected for the core layer and the layer of abrasive material are sufficient to create an aesthetically appealing tool.
In a first preferred embodiment, the invention comprises a substantially opaque nail tool having a colored or decorative pattern printed on its abrasive surface by a process which creates a durable pattern. The core layer is provided from any of the materials previously described, but preferably polystyrene. The layer of abrasive material includes any of the materials just described, although typically the abrasive surface has an opaque white color, preferably obtained by adding white pigment to epoxy resin used for the base and sizing coats, which will not detract substantially from the color resolution of the color pattern applied to the surface.
The colored pattern is applied to this hiatused surface by a process called sublimation. This method is more particularly described in application Ser. No. 08/714,235, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. In essence, sublimation involves transferring a colored pattern of dyes on a sheet, such as paper, onto the hiatused surface of the tool. The paper and the tool are placed in a press with the pattern on the paper directed towards the hiatused surface of the tool. Heat and pressure are applied which vaporize the dyes on the paper and embed them into the surface of the tool.
In a second preferred embodiment, the invention comprises a nail tool having a unique translucent or transparent appearance. The core layer constitutes one or more materials which are at least partially translucent and preferably substantially transparent. Such materials include clear plastics, gels or rubbers, with styrene, acrylic, or polycarbonate being preferred. The layer or sheet of abrasive material also has a partially translucent and preferably a substantially transparent appearance. This is achieved by using substantially translucent or transparent materials, such as a clear epoxy, or a polyester film, for the base and sizing coats and providing substantially translucent or transparent grit, such as powdered glass or aluminum oxide, for the abrasive. During manufacturing, substantially clear adhesives are used, such as an acrylic adhesive, which substantially will not discolor during the bonding process or over time.
Because of the translucent or transparent materials used, the resulting tool typically has a sufficiently unique appearance as to constitute a finished, attractive product without requiring an added pattern. The materials may be substantially colorless or they may include color, such as by introducing dye or some other pigment into the core layer or the base and/or sizing coats. In addition, powdered glass of a desired color may be selected for the abrasive material to provide additional color effects.
Glitter, such as metalized bits of plastic and/or polished aluminum foil, may also be mixed with the abrasive material. The glitter may be bonded to the base coat, and covered, along with the abrasive material, with a substantially transparent sizing coat. Thus, the glitter substantially maintains its reflective glitter and/or luster through the sizing coat without compromising the abrasive quality of the nail file. In addition, the base coat and/or sizing coat may include a colored dye selected to complement the color and/or reflective quality of the glitter.
Alternatively, a colored or decorative pattern may be applied to the surface of the file using the sublimation process already referenced above.
In a third preferred embodiment, a decorative sheet is fused between the core layer and the layer of abrasive material. The sheet is composed of a durable material, such as paper or fabric, which can resist heat and pressure. The sheet may include such patterns as a reflective metallic or holographic image, or a luminescent design. Optionally, the base and/or sizing coat material may also be colored or particularly reflective abrasive grains may be selected to augment the appearance of the pattern showing through the layer of abrasive material. Finally, the sheet may instead constitute thermochromic material which changes color in response to temperature variations of the material.
Although the manufacturing of the different embodiments involve the game basic processes, the specific parameters vary somewhat because of the different materials used. Generally, the core layer and the layer of abrasive material are laminated together using adhesives that cure when subjected to heat and pressure. A preferred adhesive is one that does not include animal products or other materials that are particularly sensitive to heat and pressure, as well as one that does not include products which may discolor. Examples of acceptable adhesives include acrylic, epoxy, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) acetate, or polyurethane.
When a colored pattern is applied to the surface, the heat and pressure of the sublimation process may be used to cure the adhesives laminating the various layers of the tool. Alternatively, only the layer or sheet of abrasive material is subjected to the sublimation process, and the core layer is bonded to the layer of abrasive material in a subsequent step, which may include additional heat and pressure.
The tool may include a patterned sheet, such as paper, permanently incorporated into the tool between the core and abrasive layers as already described. The sheet is preferably adhered to the core layer before the core layer and the layer of abrasive material are laminated together. The layer of abrasive material, which has a translucent or preferably substantially transparent appearance, is then laminated over the patterned sheet.
More typically, the entire product is cured all at one time, using heat and pressure similar to those described above, bonding all of the layers permanently together in a large sheet. The sheet is then cut using conventional methods, such as die cutting, to form individual nail tools. Thus, the method of manufacturing the present invention provides an efficient means of producing a durable, decorative tool in large enough quantities to reduce manufacturing costs and allow the present invention to compete commercially with inexpensive, but relatively plain, conventional nail files.
Other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from consideration of the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.